try to get them to you when we see you later this afternoon. "cnn saturday morning" with randi kaye continues right now. >> just total, total devastation. >> our hearts go out to the families who have lost loved ones. >> we come together in times of trial, and this is one of those times. >> i cannot thank the president enough for his personal concern. >> make no mistake about it, this was a devastating storm. >> we are going to die. you don't understand. you got to get your trucks here on this corner. >> the question of this election comes down to this. do you want more of the same, or do you want real change? >> have you heard him? he's going around saying i'm the candidate of change. except when you look at the policies, they're the same ones that didn't work. >> ohio, you're probably going to decide the next president of the united states. >> you may have noticed that everybody's paying a lot of

attention to ohio. good morning, everyone. i'm randi kaye. it is 10:00 in new york, 7:00 in los angeles. thanks for starting your morning with us. we start in the final stretch. there are only three days left until election day. and you know what that means. it means a mad dash by both campaigns. and here's what i'm talking about. president obama crisscrossing the country from colorado to new hampshire over the next two days. that includes two separate trips to ohio. mitt romney has most of those states on his itinerary as well, but he's also adding pennsylvania to his list. last hour, we brought you live coverage of his stop in new hampshire. now, here is the national picture. and it couldn't be closer. our poll shows 47% each. president obama will soon be on his way to mentor ohio to campaign in the cleveland suburb, but before we take you there, listen to the president slam mitt romney over an ad his campaign is running in ohio. >> look, i understand governor

romney has had a tough time here in ohio because he was against saving the auto industry. and it's hard to run away from a position when you're on videotape saying let detroit go bankrupt. but you've got to own what you say. this isn't a game. these are people's jobs at stake. these are people's lives. you don't scare hard working americans just to scare up some votes. that's not what being president's all about. >> the president was responding to this romney ad that implies the auto bailout plan failed and chrysler will move jobs to china, a claim that chrysler has denied. romney spoke last hour in new hampshire, sharpening his attack on obama, and he's all but declared victory. he even called the event a victory rally. >> when i'm president, it's going to be very clear that we finally have an administration and a president and a government

in the united states that actually likes job creators, that wants to help job creators. >> romney called yesterday's jobs report a sad reminder that unemployment is essentially unchanged at 7.9%. while the obama campaign touted the 171,000 jobs added with improved numbers in september and august. we have our correspondents spread throughout the battleground states to bring you the latest on the election and the final push for both candidates. dan lothian is in ohio where the president will speak next hour. dan, good morning. how is president obama handling the post-sandy power outages and flooding on the campaign trail? it's a difficult balance, i'm sure, between the two. >> reporter: you make a really good point, because the president is still trying to make this big push in the final days of this campaign, but at the same time, has to do his day job dealing with the aftermath of hurricane sandy.

a white house official said the president was briefed overnight on the latest situation there, and then this morning, he headed over to fema headquarters, where he got another briefing from his homeland security team to get an update on not only the flood damage, but also the power outage situation. the president held a video conference call also with the governors in the impacted area of connecticut, new jersey, and also new york. the main theme from the president during that meeting was that the government has to get it right. take a listen. >> what i told the governors and the mayors is what i've been saying to my team from the start of this event, and that is we don't have any patience for bureaucracy, we don't have any patience for red tape, and we want to make sure that we are figuring out a way to get the answers when it comes to these problems. >> reporter: randi, later today,

high level administration officials will be fanning out to get an up close view of what the government's effort -- how it's going. we are told that secoone will b visiting hospital workers in manhattan and also in the bronx. >> how are the polls looking? what are they saying at this point? >> well, i think it's interesting, the polls are seemingly all over the place, but i think they've been relatively consistent over the last month. the president up by just a few points here. the cnn orc poll has the president up by three points. there's also an nbc poll that has the president up by six points. the bottom line is that it is a very tight race here in ohio. critical to both campaigns. that's why they're spending so much time here, the president made three stops in ohio yesterday, two stops today, will be back again tomorrow. and the big push here is on the auto bailout, as you heard at the top of the show there. the president going after that

mitt romney ad that suggested that jobs from the chrysler plant may end up going to china. the president accusing mitt romney of bending the truth. citing one example of some workers at a jeep plant who were concerned about that ad, went to their bosses thinking that perhaps there are jobs who go overseas. i'm told that the president will continue to push that theme of the auto bailout. they believe that really resonates with workers here in the state of ohio because so many of the jobs here depend on the auto industry. >> that is certainly an issue there. thank you very much. appreciate the update. mitt romney just wrapped up his first weekend campaign rally in new hampshire, and now he is headed the iowa. our national political correspondent jim acosta was there in portsmouth, new hampshire. >> reporter: mitt romney has kicked off his swing state blitz in this final weekend of the presidential campaign starting the day in new hampshire and then heading next to iowa and colorado. we're hearing the gop nominee touch on some themes that he's

been bringing up quite a bit in the last couple of days, saying he is the candidate of what he calls real change. he's also going through his five-point economic plan to get the country back on track, talking about ideas like cutting the deficit, tapping into domestic energy resources and fixing the nation's public school system. but one thing that he has been trying to zero in on in this final stretch of the campaign, he's been going after the president's mantel, being a post-partisan president. in the words of mitt romney, the president has been what he calls the most partisan. here's what he had to say. >> yesterday, the president said something you might have heard by now that i think surprised a lot of people. he said voting is the best revenge. he told his supporters, voting for revenge. vote for revenge? let me tell you what i'd like to tell you. vote for love of country. [ cheers and applause ] it is time we lead america to a

better place. >> as for the rest of this weekend, mitt romney will be heading back to what is perhaps the ultimate battleground state of ohio, where polls show the gop nominee is trailing the president by anywhere between three and six points. he is also going to be hitting the state of pennsylvania, the state that the obama campaign says is not in play, but is increasingly looking like a state that is becoming more competitive. jim acosta, cnn, portsmouth, new hampshire. new york governor cuomo is speaking right now at this press conference in new york city. has the latest information on the sandy cleanup. one highlight to point out, he has said that all power has been restored to manhattan. but let's listen in for just a minute. >> from what was horrendous damage. and the worst damage that the subway system had ever seen, that people can remember, and 80% is back. so that is just a great, great job. the service between brooklyn and queens and manhattan is being

restored immediately. the four, five, six, and seven train will immediately begin to run. the f, the j, the d, the m will run later this afternoon. the staten island railway will have limited service beginning later today. the entire team didn't really did an extraordinary job. they've been work straight. i don't know how many of them are even on their feet. i've been seeing them 24 hours a day, and not only did they try hard, but they actually got the job done. and the mta has a great leader in joe loda and i really applaud him and his work. let's give him a round of applause, joe loda, who's here with us today. world trade center site was frightening. you know, the world trade center site is still under construction. it's right near the hudson

river. and at the cresting of the tide on monday night, the hudson river was basically pouring into the world trade center site. tli i was there to see it myself. the 28 world trade center site had 20 feet of water. the memorial was flooded. the pumping has been completed. the world trade center site is now basically dry. the memorial is still flooded, pumping will continue, and we expect by the end of today, the memorial will be fully pumped out. in terms of food, we are continuing the food distribution. we will have about one million meals distributed over the next couple of days in totality. and i thank again all the not for profit organizations that are helping us do this distribution. this is a massive undertaking. the national guard are the backbone of the effort, but we

also have not for profits and volunteers showing up all throughout the metropolitan area to help with the distribution. >> you've been listening to governor andrew cuomo speaking in new york city about some of the improvements that have been made since superstorm sandy. talking about the world trade center memorial, still under water, but that should be pumped out today, he said. but the big headline is that all power, he says, has been restored in manhattan. and one other note, fuel trucks, we're told, are going to be in the new york-new jersey area. the u.s. department of defense and the president have ordered this and there will be a ten-gallon limit. there's been a real problem for folks there trying to get gasoline in their cars, so that is certainly some good news as well. now more on superstorm sandy. take a look at these stunning before-and-after photos that we're just getting from google earth. this first one is from brick township, new jersey. on the right, if you look closely, you can see the cared remains of a neighborhood and

some small fires still glowing. and this is on the new jersey coast, one of new jersey's barrier islands. you the see it now has a small river running through where a cluster of homes actually used to be. i actually saw that area for myself. it is something to see. the end of bridge you can see was also washed out. this is iconic seaside heights. look at the corner of the pier there where a roller coaster once was. on the rights side, you see it broke off right into the ocean and piles of debris washed up on to the beach. it's really an incredible sight. so what would you do if you could run the presidential campaigns during the last three days before the election? where would you go and who would you have by your side? a lot to imagine, and we'll ask some experts. we'll find out what maria cardona and anna navarro would like to do. see life in the best light.

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welcome back, everyone. this is a live picture in mentor, ohio, where president obama is preparing to speak. we will bring you those remarks. supposed to happen just before noon eastern time. and you see the crowds there certainly gathering. we brought you the remarks of governor mitt romney earlier, speaking in new hampshire, so we're listening to the president coming up next hour. millions of americans have already voted in places like florida, ohio, and in georgia. but that is just a fraction of the total, which makes the next three days pretty darn important for the candidates. joining me now, as she does at this time every week, is cnn contributor maria cardona. and from miami this morning, cnn contributor anna navarro. good morning to both of you. >> good morning. >> maria, last week you said

that the latino vote is being undercounted in the polls and that president obama actually has a bigger lead than everyone thinks. i want to get anna's take on that one. >> you know, we could spend all morning here discussing the skewed polls. if they look good from my side, the democrats think it look s skewed. i think we're going to go into a nose spin and we don't want to suffer from political schizophrenia. my advice is that we don't obsess about polls because it really could lead to temporary insanity between now and november 6th. i just saw two polls last night from florida. one mitt romney six points up on barack obama, and the second one, which came out five minutes later, had president obama two points up on mitt romney. it's a very tricky discussion. >> it certainly is. a little bit of temporary insanity is okay as we get close to election day. maria, do you still stand by your prediction? >> absolutely.

and frankly, a lot of analysts agree with that. if you look at what of george bush's own pollsters said when he was president and running was that no republican can actually get to the white house with at least 40% of the hispanic vote. this was in 2004. imagine that percentage has had to have gone up just a little bit given the expanded population of hispanic voters. and right now, you have mitt romney at less than 25% nationally, and less than 25% in each of the key swing states that had large hispanic populations. like nevada, like colorado, like florida. so i think they should be very worried when it comes to these battleground states, and even in ohio, where you have 166,000 registered latino voters going out to the polls, and an election this tight, they could absolutely be the deciding factor. i think it's going to be the october surprise of this election. >> i thought we already had one

of those. >> early november. >> let me ask you, because we were asking our viewers before the break, if you could run the campaign in the last three days, what would you do if you have the reins of the campaign. if you were in charge of the romney campaign, anna, what would you do at this point? >> i think exactly what they are doing. they're having big rallies. showing a great deal of republican unity. they're showing a great deal of momentum. they've got over a hundred of the top republican surrogates out there fanning around the country, going to the swing states. so you've got to get your base out at this point. pretty mu there are very few undecided that are left. i want to go back to the latino vote question and seriously look. what maria said in 2004 was right. but it's not right in 2012. much to my chagrin, because i wish it were.

and the reason is, because we haven't seen this kind of shift of white voters before. if it was what it was four years ago or what it was for the democrat four years before that then yes, you would need 40% of the latino vote, but right now, we could very well see mitt romney win with a lot less than that and we could see barack obama win with a lot less of the white vote than we have seen in the past. >> right. it certainly has shifted. maria, very quickly, if you were running the obama campaign where would you go, what would you be doing? a lot of people have said he needs to start belting it out again and getting that sore throat that he had at the end of 2008. >> i think he'll probably end up with that sore throat on tuesday night, but i also think exactly what they're doing -- look, bill clinton wherever they can get him. and going to all of the swing states wherever they can get

him. i think more importantly, to actually show real people. in ohio, to have all of the auto workers whose jobs have been saved by the president's rescue of the auto industry, in sharp contrast with what mitt romney wanted to do, which was to let the industry go bankrupt and also in sharp contrast with the absolutely flat-out deceiving ads that mitt romney is running in ohio right now, where he even had to have the ceo of gm and the ceo of chrysler come out to say that they're lies and that he needs to cut it out. i think in ohio, such an important state for mitt romney where the president is leading right now, the obama campaign is doing exactly what they need to be doing. >> at a time like this, the visuals are just as important as the rhetoric. thank you both, maria, ana, nice to see you. it is the other big story, superstorm sandy. it left behind widespread disruption and is blamed for dozens of deaths. the surprising way some of the victims died and how it may have been prevented. questions?

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the heartache is growing for families across the northeast, as sandy claims more lives. according to the latest number, the storm is now blamed for 106 deaths in the u.s. overall, sandy left 175 people dead including canada and the caribbean. nick valencia is joining us now for a little bit more in terms of the loss of life, is it still really the focus mainly in new york and new jersey? >> yeah, it is. that accounted for more than half of the u.s. related deaths. we had 106. between new york and new jersey, 70 deaths there. but even before the storm, before it made landfall in the united states, it was already a deadly storm. the hardest hit area was haiti in the caribbean. 67 deaths there. >> i was in that area covering the storm for anderson cooper's show, and we did a story on the natural gas and the leaks that were happening along the coastline there. but you said there's actually

something else that people were dying from. >> we found something very interesting today. amid the correlation that carbon monoxide poisoning ends up being a cause for a handful of deaths in these u.s. related deaths, very preventable, something that was very preventable. we took it a step further. we found out a few years ago, the federal government partnered with the cdc and they realized that generators, even if they're placed outside, they need to be placed more than 20 feet away from their home. we found out that people in pennsylvania and virginia, they had the generators inside their home, but the federal government took it one step further, said even if you have it close to your home, it needs to be about 20 feet, otherwise it could be fatal. >> so they survived the storm and perished from the carbon monoxide. that's terrible. what about the bounty? we covered that a lot this week. do you have any update on that? has the search been suspended for the captain? >> just a reminder, it's a rep

-- replica, it sunk off the coast of north carolina. a recent interview surfaced, he talked about why it was one of the greatest jobs in the world. listen if. >> there's no artificial contrived problems out here. the problems out here are real. if you're sinking, you're sinking. if the wind is blowing 80 knots, mother nature doesn't care if you're white, black, yellow, green. you're just dealing with honest facts, honest illusions. >> he is 63 years old, they still haven't said that he is presumed dead, but he's still missing at this point. he worked for the bounty for 17 years. as he said, his greatest job, greatest job in the world. a sad story. >> it is certainly. a lot of those coming out of the storm. nick, thank you very much. so many states, so little time. the obama campaign has a flurry of stops on the agenda for the final three days, but some key states are getting stiffed.

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welcome back, everyone. isle randi kaye. here are some stories that we're watching this morning. good news for some residents of new york city dealing with the aftermath of sandy. new york governor andrew cuomo announcing just a short time ago here on cnn that 80% of subway service has now been restored. he also says power has been restored in all of manhattan. but for others across the northeast, it could be at least another week before the power is back on. separately, hundreds have been lining up for miles just trying to get gasoline. many gas stations in the new york-new jersey area are still out of commission. we are down to the last three days before the election. president obama and mitt romney are campaigning across several key states this weekend. both candidates will be in colorado, ohio, iowa, and virginia, while romney will also be making a stop in pennsylvania and new hampshire. and it is taking some voters up to four hours to cast their ballots in florida. one of the election's most crucial swing states. remember, early voting in florida started a week later

than it did in 2008 because of a new state law. the republican state legislature reduced the number of early voting days from 14 down to 8. there are just three days left until election day and the presidential race is pretty darn tight. the candidates are making a final push through the swing states, looking for any advantage along the way. joining me now to talk about the president's final flurry is the national communications director for the obama campaign. brent, good morning. thanks for being here with us. tell me, what is the strategy for these last three days? >> look, for this last push, it's pretty simple. we want to be as many places as we can, as many times as we can before people cast that last ballot when the polls close on election night. so the president's out there campaigning hard. he's in wisconsin, ohio, iowa, and virginia just today. he's hitting a number of states sunday, and then finishing up with a big three-state push that takes him back to iowa where it

all started in 2008 to wrap things up with the first lady on monday night. and it's not just the president. the vice president is out hittihit ing states. we have president clinton out doing stop after stop. we just want to make sure the voters know the choice and most importantly know to show up to vote. when there's lines to stay in line, but what matters is who shows up and who they cast their ballot for on tuesday. >> let's look at this map of the planned stops in the days before election day. the all-important swing states. i'm guessing i probably know the answer to this next question, but are there any one of these state ts that might be a little more precious than the others? >> well, look, the way our system works, it usually comes down to a handful of stops, a handful of states that really decide the election. i think you tell from both the candidates' travel what those states might be. but of all the battleground states, we feel very confident that we have the ground game to get them where they need to be on election day. early vote is going on.

we've done great. north carolina is a good example of what we're seeing. the republicans have thought they could put this away for months. the reality is polls have it tight there and tied in many polls. we've got a great ground operation. we registered over a quarter million new voters there through our voter registration efforts, so we feel good about every state that's on the map. >> i want to put that map back up for just a second. that's a lot of swing states right there. i notice that nevada and new hampshire aren't on that list. is that about time or is that about a level of confidence? >> well, look, the president was in nevada earlier this week. like i said, the president, the first lady, the vice president have all been there consistently throughout this campaign. and the reality is a lot of votes have already been cast in nevada. it's a very active early vote state, so we wanted to spend some time there earlier. we have a solid ground game again that's going to be knocking on doors through the weekend, making sure people show up to vote. the president was up in new hampshire this week as well. we consider those states that we

can win, and places we played consistently throughout this campaign. >> just to be clear on that, new hampshire was on that list. we're seeing republicans put extra focus on pennsylvania. are you at all concern that the state is more in play than it might have been three weeks ago? >> sure. i think you've seen an interesting strategy from the republicans over the last week. the reality is that their path to the white house was very narrow and went right through ohio where they have just beaten back time and again, in many cases because of the positions mitt romney has taken. we have been consistent in ohio. we feel good about ohio. but that means they've had to make a desperate look for other places. other ways to get to that magic 270 number. they tried to say minnesota. they tried to say pennsylvania. they're spending some time and money there. we feel good about pennsylvania. president clinton will be up in pennsylvania this weekend. again, we've got a really great ground game there. we did well there in 2008. so we feel comfortable we're going to win in pennsylvania. and these desperate moves are what you see from campaigns at the end that are looking for a

way to win. this is exactly what we saw out of the mccain campaign in 2008 when they made an aggressive move into pennsylvania in the closing weeks of the campaign. >> right, and some others beforehand as well. the final jobs report, though, before i let you go, unemployment up to 7.9%. 171,000 jobs. good news, bad news, or a bit of mixed news for the president? >> i think if you look at all the economic indicators and where we've seen the economy move over the last three years, especially given what the president inherited in 2009, americans should feel good about the direction we're going in. we've had 33 straight months of new private sector jobs added. second month under 8% for unemployment. we still have work to do. that's what's so important about this election. we need to stick with president, show up and vote for the president so we can keep the policies moving forward that have gotten us headed back the right direction. and not go backwards to the economic policies of the past, the ones that mitt romney is advocating for where you have a trickle down economic attitude. that's exactly what got us into this mess in the first place. we feel good about the report on

friday. we know there's a on the more to do. and the president is going to keep working until every american who wants a job can get a job. but we feel like the economy is a good issue for us and the president is proud of his record. >> brent colburn, hope you get some sleep in the next few days. you'll need it. thanks again for checking in with us. >> thanks, randi. and everybody make sure to show up to vote. we'll talk to you again. >> all right, thank you. so would you wait four hours in line to vote? that is what is happening in florida, as early voters wait in long lines to cast their ballots. we are headed there next. 

a little space dog there. the race for president doesn't get much closer than it is right now in florida. a poll taken this week shows president obama edging out mitt

romney 49% to 47%. that is within the sampling error. florida, of course, has a coveted 29 electoral votes. more than 3.4 million ballots already have been cast. that is more than a third of the total turnout that's actually expected. but early votings has been pretty controversial long lines and calls for an extension of the early voting period. doesn't look like that's going to happen. john zarrella is just north of miami. you voted yesterday before the last day. how did it go? >> reporter: yeah, and i probably should have voted a few days earlier than that as well. it was about two hours and ten minutes from just about where i'm standing now to the point where i was in and out and done voting. but public service announcement out there, for anybody in broward county who was planning to come here today, you might want to think about coming now, because the line is actually down, if you can imagine, from where it was a little while ago.

it's probably still a three and a half hour wait, but it was just over four hours a while ago. so as we move towards the noon hour, it might be a good time to come on out here and vote. and as you mentioned, originally, four years ago, it was 14 days, but the state legislature cut it to only eight days of early voting. so thus these tremendous long lines that we're seeing here on the last day of early voting, and a lot of people are concerned that when it comes to election day on tuesday, this is going to also translate into some tremendously long lines on election day. we'll have to just -- as they say, wait and see. >> certainly a concern for both campaigns really is that these people won't get a chance to vote. have you seen people come and take a look at the line and say forget it? i mean, what's the mood there? are they frustrated? are they being patient? >> no, they're not. they're absolutely being patient.

i had a political party official come up to me saying, you know, considering how acrimonious all of these elections have become and how polarized, people are here, standing in line, meeting new friends. right? everybody's really good natured about it. they're taking it in stride. this political official was telling me, you know, it's really good to see people exercising their right to vote. and in florida, as everyone is well aware, 2000 election, 537 votes was the difference. so if there is any place in the nation where the people know that every vote counts, it's florida. >> absolutely. i am so glad you pointed that out, john. john zarrella there in plantation. thank you. >> sure. she says mitt romney is the least truthful candidate she has ever seen in her lifetime and that women should be concerned if he is elected president. next, legendary american feminist and author gloria

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the question for the obama campaign, will women have his back on tuesday? if rekrebt polling is any indication, the president will have that crucial voting block to thank if he wins re-election. take a look, right now, nationally, mr. obama has an 11-point advantage over mitt romney among women voters. that lead is even larger in some battleground states like ohio, where a recent cnn poll indicates the president has a 14-point edge over romney with women. and in virginia, where obama leads by 16 points. so what is behind those numbers? joining me now, gloria steinem, also the co-founder of

"ms." magazine. good morning and thank you for joining us. >> good morning, and thank you. >> let me show you about the cover that we just showed there. describe the war on women as you see it today. >> the war on women is not actually a republican war, it's a war by the extremists who are now in control of the republican party. and what it means is first controlling reproduction. we're accustomed in this country to talking about production. we forget that controlling reproduction is even more important. so it would put women's bodies under literally government control with the human life amendment. it's also about refusing to support equal pay, which is quite astounding, because i don't remember any presidential candidate who at least verbally has not agreed to support equal

pay. and it is also sbeer fearing wi -- interfering with such things as the violence against women act, even though more women have been killed by their husbands or boyfriends since 9/11 than americans were killed in 9/11, iraq, and afghanistan combined, and yet they have refused to extend the violence against women act. >> i wanted to show you this poll, though, from earlier this month of the most important issue for women in this election, and at the very top, if you can see it there, it's abortion. 39% with jobs and health care far below. you've been traveling across the country. buzz that surprise you? is that in line with what you're hearing from women as far as their concerns? >> it is in line, and that's why i put controlling reproduction first. because the human life amendment, which is expected by romney and ryan and the platform

would declare the fertilized egg to be a person, and that means that women's bodies throughout our childbearing years would be under government control. but also remember that one in three american women has needed an abortion at some time in her life before she's 45. most of those women who have needed abortions are already mothers, so they absolutely understand that it's important that every child is born loved and wanted. and there are already 35 states in which young women have been deprived of those rights. so we understand it's on the edge. >> what about roe v. wade. mitt romney has said he would work toward overturning roe v. wade. do you truly think it's in danger? >> it's much more than that. it has already been eviscerated in those 35 states for young women, and also for poor women who are dependent on government

health care. and the romney-ryan position goes around even the supreme court to support a constitutional amendment to declare the fertilized egg a person. so they could not possibly be more clear. and whether or not -- however people feel about what they personally would choose, they want to make the choice. they don't want the government to make the choice. >> i want to talk about another equally important issue. that's equal pay for women. right now, women are paid about 77% on the dollar of what men are paid. the issue, as you know, came up in the second presidential debate where romney never specifically said whether he supported equal pay. instead, he talked about hose well-known binders full of women. you say equal pay is the biggest boost to our economy. do you also think it would be a deciding factor tuesday? >> well, it should be a deciding factor, but i don't think i don't think i or the obama campaign has done the best job of explaining.

obama supports equal pay and talks about it as an individual issue and a family issue, but really, nobody has talked about it as the single biggest economic stimulus to create jobs that this country could possibly institute. it could cut the poverty rate drastically and would put money in the economy exactly where it's needed and exactly where it's most likely to be spent, and increase jobs. but we haven't talked about it. we talk about women as a social issue. excuse me? half the population are not a social issue. and that somehow makes it not an economic issue. it is an economic issue. >> you said recently that the republican party is not the same party that it was a few decades ago. how do you think it's changed? >> it's changed herely. i mean, the republican party was in my memory the first to support the equal rights amendment. goldwater supported reproductive freedom. the first bush supported planned

parenthood. reagan supported immigrant rights. it has been taken over by extremists, many of whom used to be democrats. it began with the passage of the civil rights act in the '60s when the old dixiecrats like jesse helms left the democratic party because it became too racially inclusive and began gradually to take over the republican party. it's so dangerous to have one of our two big parties controlled by extremists because it makes people think that issues are equally divided when they are, in fact, not. they're 70-30 or 60-40. i think our long-term job is to take back the republican party. >> and just very quickly what is your prediction for tuesday? >> you know, it all depends who votes. if it is a lowered voter turnout, which obviously the governor and legislature of florida wants because they have

cut the voting time almost in half and increased the ballot to 12 pages or something, then it will be an older, richer, whiter electorate. if it is a higher turnout, then it will be a more inclusive electorate. so a low turnout will elect romney-ryan. a high turnout, a true democratic turnout, will absolutely re-elect obama. >> yeah, and some states, from what i understand, the voting forums are like 30 pages to go through. it's going to be interesting. >> i really think that another long-term job is to look at this voting situation very seriously because florida in 2000 was actually won by gore as every later survey showed, and yet, it went to bush. i mean, we have a very, very flawed voting system. but the good thing i see as i travel is that people, especially women, are not only ready to vote, they will fight

to vote. they will not go away until they vote. >> as everyone should. gloria steinem, thank you so much. appreciate you being here. >> thank you. late night comedians proving they aren't afraid to take on anyone. even a hurricane. find out what letterman and his pals had to say about super storm sandy.

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hey, you know, they did not have halloween in new jersey wednesday night. governor chris christie postponed it by executive order until monday. however, he did spend the day scaring the held out of republicans by praising president obama. >> but everyone's asking how was

this storm going to affect the election? and i think it's given obama momentum. i mean, obviously he didn't plan it. they'll try to blame it on him, of course. but it's because of how he's handled it. he approached it so differently than bush. he showed up. thanks for watching today. the next hour of "cnn saturday morning" starts right now. from the cnn center, this is "cnn saturday morning." good morning, everyone. i'm randi kaye. glad you're with us. president obama and governor romney focus on the swing states as both candidates make their final push. in the aftermath of super storm sandy, gas rationing starts in new jersey today in an effort to cut down on those long lines at the gas station. plus, during this tragedy, a man has become a much-needed angel to one new jersey community.

just three days to go until election day and the presidential candidates are launching a weekend battleground blitz to win over undecided voters. today, president obama campaigns in ohio, wisconsin, iowa, and virginia. mitt romney stumps in new hampshire, iowa, and colorado. their running mates are also going nonstop. vice president joe biden in colorado today, and paul ryan in pennsylvania, virginia, florida, and ohio. ohio could be the biggest battleground of the election, and the race there is tight. a just released cnn-orc poll shows obama ahead by just three points, well within the margin of error. an nbc "wall street journal" marist poll shows a wider gap with obama leading by six points. president obama is speaking at a rally in mentor, ohio, in hour. dan lothian is there along with him. dan, good morning.

ohio certainly critical to these candidates. what line of attack is the president expected to take there to widen his lead? >> well, you know, randi, it continues to be one that focus on the auto industry. i'm told by a campaign official that the president will continue that theme that he was pushing yesterday while campaigning here in ohio, that the auto bailout which he pushed, which he says that mitt romney did not support, helped to save thousands of jobs here in an area that the auto industry is very critical to employment here, so that's the theme that the president will continue pushing. they expect that perhaps the president will again hit that ad that mitt romney had running where he suggested that jobs from a chrysler plant could end up going overseas to china. the president telling a crowd of supporters that he heard from one plant that there was concern among the work force there, going in talking to their bosses

for concern that their jobs could be headed overseas to china. the president will be pushing that very hard at this rally here today. trying to sort of draw that sharp contrast between his policies and the vision of mitt romney, saying that it's an issue of trust, and then helping the president out here in ohio, the first lady also, mrs. biden campaigning here in the state of ohio. and then some big name entertainers all across the battleground states over the next few days. katy perry, bruce springsteen, the dave matthews band, stevie wonder, will.i.am, all of them getting audiences fired up for the president's message. >> and certainly leaning, as you mentioned, on bill clinton. how much weight does he carry for the president? >> i think bill clinton certainly still is considered a big surrogate for the president. it's been pointed out by the campaign that no one can better narrow down and crystallize the

president's message than former president bill clinton, and so they consider him a very powerful weapon. he's also a big draw when he's out there on the campaign trail, he can pull in a lot of supporters. they also believe he could appeal to those yet undecided voters, if there are any of them out there still. they believe that he has a way of sort of boiling down the message that can appeal to them. >> dan lothian, thank you, dan. appreciate that. the president is expected to make those remarks just before noon eastern time. we'll be sure to bring those to you. the republican campaign making a last-minute play for pennsylvania. this weekend, both mitt romney and paul ryan are campaigning in the state. ryan is in harrisburg, pennsylvania, today. and tomorrow, romney heads to bucks county. cnn political editor paul steinhauser live in harrisburg this morning. the polls show romney is narrowing the gap with romney in that state. can he realistically hope to take the state this fllate in t

campaign? >> reporter: no republican hopeful has won the presidential campaign since 1980. paul ryan is not the only one who's coming to this state. mitt romney will be here in pennsylvania as well tomorrow in suburban philadelphia. that swing part of the state is really the swing part of the state will determine who wins it. 21 electoral votes up for grabs. you were just mentioning bill clinton. he is coming here to campaign in pennsylvania on monday. jill bide season here today as well. both sides going up with a lot of ads now. i turned on the tv last night, watching the local news, tons of ads. almost ten million ads in the closing ten days of this campaign. by a two to one margin, it's romney or romney allied ads running many this state. here's the most recent poll from franklin and marshall. just a four-point advantage. he used to have a double digit

advantage in this state, which didn't see much action in these final weeks. >> and earlier today, governor romney was as a rally in portsmouth, new hampshire. any news out of there? >> yeah, there was a little bit of news out of there. romney knows new hampshire very well. he's got a vacation home there. he's going to have his closing event in new hampshire on monday night. but remember yesterday, the president, when he was in ohio, when he mentioned mitt romney's name, some of the crowd booed. and the president said no, don't boo. just vote on tuesday and that will be your revenge. mitt romney has really picked up on those comments. take a listen to what he said. >> yet, the president said something you may have heard by now that i think surprised a lot of people. speaking to an audience, he said voting is the best revenge. he told his supporters voting for revenge. vote for revenge? let me tell you what i'd like to tell you. vote for love of country. >> that's the man at the top of

the ticket. here are some live pictures of the running mate paul ryan. he is in ohio right now. after he's done in ohio, he's coming right to where i am in harrisburg, pennsylvania. i guess we'll find out on november 6th if pennsylvania truly is in play. the romney campaign says it is. they say they're broadening the map. the obama campaign says this is a desperation move by romney. >> and romney saying vote for love of country. it sounds like he's really softening the rhetoric there, not so much on the attack. >> you know, it is interesting, though. at other times in his stump speeches, he does criticize the president a lot for the economy and for other actions the president's taken over the last four years, so we're hearing kind of a little of everything in these final closing days, randi. >> paul, thank you. a lot of people around the country are voting early to avoid the lines, but in florida, early voting lines are extremely long. some people waiting hours. early voting has wrapped up in some states and ballots are

already being counted. we'll get the latest on superstorm sandy and what's being done to help survivors. plus, we'll follow the national guard as they go door to door in long beach island new jersey. thg to turn around because of business people like you. and regions is here to help. with the experience and service to keep things rolling. from business loans to cash management, we want to be your partner moving forward. so switch to regions. and let's get going. together. one is for a clean, wedomestic energy future that puts us in control. our abundant natural gas is already saving us money, producing cleaner electricity, putting us to work here in america and supporting wind and solar. though all energy development comes with some risk, we're committed to safely and responsibly producing natural gas. it's not a dream.

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now to the latest on superstorm sandy. there are reports that there are 22 million gallons of gas headed to the northeast. residents wait hours to gas up cars and get fuel for their generators, to cut down on wait times, 12 new jersey counties will go to a rationing system at noon today. by the way, aaa reports the national price for a gallon of gas fell to $3.48. so far, we know that the 900-mile storm has killed at least 106 people in the u.s., but the search for survivors continued. jim clancynational

guard as they went door to door on a search and discovery mission in long beach island, new jersey. >> reporter: a sometimes forceful systematic search for survivors. dozens of members of the u.s. army and air force national guard joined members of the ocean county prosecutors office to probe seemingly abandoned homes on long beach island's whole gate community. they forcibly opened homes to call out for survivors. the prosecutors are on hand because they have jurisdiction if any bodies are uncovered. but in most cases, it was a straight forward call to ask if anyone was inside. >> this part of the mission is search and rescue. pretty much no one has been here. we've been trying to see if any residents that had stayed during the hurricane survived. that's basically what we're looking for here, any survivors. >> reporter: homes already

ripped open by superstorm sandy were searched inside and out while these guard teams from new jersey kept a sharp lookout for signs of life anywhere around a home, trying to ensure no one would be overlooked. devastating waves broke on these beaches, ripping away huge amounts of sand that was then carried across the island, leaving two or three-story homes perched dangerously atop their now shallow pilings. today, some of those dunes are six feet high, making road access impossible. not waiting for those roads to be cleared, the coast guard joined in the search and rescue mission, ferrying the search parties to the far southern end of the island. >> national guard. anybody home? >> reporter: their work almost done, the search teams mark each street and each street with red tape to document which homes have been checked. they found some residents, but none wanting to leave. like carl clark, who rode out the storm and still refuses to leave, but thinks it's a good

idea to keep the island closed for now. >> that is a good thing, in my opinion. we have to restore this infrastructure. we can't have everybody back yet. i'll stay here, look after our home, our neighbor's home, watch out for looting, anybody that doesn't belong here. >> reporter: carl and the residents who are not on the island can rest assured that the 100-plus national guard troops marching through freshly plowed sand drifts are also on the lookout, for everyone. just about every home in this community has been damaged or perhaps even devastated. that's property damage, personal injury is something else, and members of the army and air national guard as well as the ocean county prosecutor's office say they're going to continue to knock on doors until they can ensure that everyone wants to get out can. jim clancy, cnn, on long beach island new jersey. after much criticism, new york mayor michael bloomberg cancelled the new york city marathon for the first time in

its 42 years. it was set to take place tomorrow. bloomberg insisted the race would not have required diverting resources from sandy's recovery effort, but he said it was clear the marathon had become controversial and devicive. right now, drinking water is much needed, so an an heismaner bush plant has swichd over one of its lines from producing cans of beer to producing dance of emergency drinking water.tched e of its lines from producing cans of beer to producing dance of emergency drinking water. >> for me, it means a little more because i have family affected by it. >> we look at this as an opportunity to help. >> they'll produce and ship about 44,000 cases of drinking water, all free of charge. ohio, no republican candidate has ever lost the state. we'll talk to a romney senior adviser about the last-second push to swing ohio the republican challenger's way. g te

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the harried pace of both campaigns highlights just how close this race really is. joining me now, a member of the virginia state house and a senior adviser to the romney campaign. barbara, good morning. welcome. you're in cincinnati today, so why don't we start there in ohio. a key swing state. one of the big groups that either candidate needs, of course the auto workers there. here's mitt romney's pitch as you know it. >> who will do more for the auto industry? not barack obama. fact checkers confirm his attacks on mitt romney are false. the truth, mitt romney has a plan to help the auto industry.

he's supported by the detroit news. obama took gm and chrysler into bankruptcy and sold chrysler to italians who are going to build jeeps in china. mitt romney will fight for every american job. >> i'm mitt romney, and i approve this message. >> all right, barbara. so forget for a moment that both general motors and chrysler have decried this ad as either false or misleading. but in the ad, governor romney says he has a plan for the auto industry. i'm curious about what is and why we haven't heard much about it until just a week before the election. >> as the ad itself says, major executives support governor romney and have point out people on the obama economic council are supporting mitt romney, because he does have a plan on day one to turn this country around in terms of jobs. and with the auto economy and everything else, you need to put people back to work.

on day one, he is going to get the energy economy going and allowto allow us to have keystone pipeline opened up, and then he is going to increase economic opportunity for everybody, so that's why he's having so many people, even people on the president's own economics council are supporting mitt romney because he and paul ryan have a plan for day one to get jobs. >> but i was asking you about the jobs -- about the plan for jobs for the auto industry. and i do want to mention too that even chrysler's chief executive officer has debunked this ad. the jeeps will not be made in china. and certainly not at the expense of the american workers. chrysler is just expanding their reach. i want to clear that up. >> and that's -- the ad points that out that they are doing that. we want to have more cars made here. we want to have more trade --

>> but it's not at the expense of american jobs is the point. >> but there will be -- well, this president has lost. there are fewer jobs today in pretty much all the industry, unemployment has been stagnant. he said if we spent a trillion dollars that we would have a 5.2% unemployment. it went up this week, 7.9, higher than when the president came into office. >> well -- >> the president has failed an all of his metrics. >> let's talk about jobs. because the last jobs report before election day offered good and bad for both campaigns. the unemployment rate is up slightly. add about 171,000 jobs. we know where you stand on that. but in terms of you saying that there are fewer people working. in fact, our research shows 194,000 more people are working today than when the president took office in january 2009. so what do you say to that? >> well, we know in order just

to keep pace with population growth, you need to have job growth of 250,000 a month. and we don't hit that with this president. and he has no plan except to spend more money and do all things that have gotten us further into the ditch. he has not turned around the economy and he said if he couldn't get the job done in four years, that it would be a one-term proposition. and we absolutely agree. and joe biden said that the middle class has been buried. and certainly here in ohio, we've seen where average income is going down. you have a great governor here in ohio. 30,000 people last night at the ohio rally, with the governor and senator portman, and they are doing all these policies to turn around the economy. they need a partner in washington with mitt romney wh who is going to work with your governor, work with your senator to do the things that will get more jobs for ohio. get this economy turned around and get those people back to work instead of having a trillion-dollar welfare economy that nobody is happy with.

>> let's talk about your home state of virginia, coveted prize certainly for both candidates. what makes the romney campaign think that they can capture virginia at this point? >> well, we are leading in virginia with independents, just like we're leading in ohio and everywhere, and in virginia, we're very concerned about, first of all, the president's tax increases are going to hit our economy, just like they're going to hit ohio very hard. families and small businesses will really get crushed. we have a big high-tech industry in virginia. the tax increases will hit our small businesses at the same time -- >> let me interrupt you here, because virginia unemployment is among the lowest in the country at 5.6%. so how will you come bt thbat t? >> we observed with president obama did and did the absolute opposite. we cut spending, we cut taxes, we made jobs our number one focus, which is why we're one of

the number one places to do business, the number one place for jobs. but again, just like governor kasich and your folks here, we need a president who will work with us, not work against us. >> barbara comstock, senior adviser for the romney campaign. thank you. the state of florida looks like a virtual toss-up between president obama and governor romney. find out why the jewish voting block could become pivotal in that state. if you think running a restaurant is hard, try running four. fortunately we've got ink. it gives us 5x the rewards on our internet, phone charges and cable, plus at office supply stores. rewards we put right back into our business. this is the only thing we've ever wanted to do and ink helps us do it. make your mark with ink from chase.

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their visions for america. president obama says in part, "i believe america's prosperity was built on the strength of our middle class. we don't succeed when a few at the top do well while everyone else struggles to get by. we're better off when everyone gets a fair shot, everyone does their fair share and everyone plays by the same rules." and here's an excerpt from mitt romney's opinion piece. he says i am offering a contrast to what we are seeing in washington today. we've watched as one party has pushed through its agenda without compromising with the other party. we've watched gridlock and petty cob flikt dominate while the most important issues confronting the nation go unaddressed. the bickering has to end, i will end it. you can read their complete opinions by logging on to our website. just go to cnn.com/opinion. it is going to be a tough race in florida. another vote that could be pivotal is cnn's jewish voters.

john zarrella joins us to tell us more about that. good morning, john. >> reporter: we are here with early voting in bruoward county. lines sometimes four hours long as folks are exercising their right to go to the polls. we have seen a lot of advertising money spent in florida to basically target the jewish voter, and that is a group that in the past we just haven't seen targeted like this. not all the talk in florida this year revolves around the spanish vote. and it's not just about that stretch of asphalt between tampa and daytona beach in central florida. called the i-4 corridor. some say for the first time in memory the deciding factor in florida could well be a block of voters who have always been

steadfast democrats. >> there's no way a democrat can win florida today statewide without two things happening. one, a large turnout in the jewish vote here in southeast florida, and secondly, an overwhelming democratic vote in the jewish community here in southeast florida. >> i voted for barack obama. >> reporter: there are television ads paid for by the republican jewish coalition featuring professed lifelong jewish democrats who have switched. >> i was a big obama supporter. had a fundraiser in my home and believed in what he stood for. >> reporter: romney "better for israel" fliers are stuffed in mailbox. along the turnpike, billboards read "balm, oy vey, had enough"? >> there's a british word that means to throw up. when i see these, i want to pull

off the road. >> reporter: this rabbi supports president obama. he says the republicans are pandering and it's not going to work. >> the notion that the first thing all jewish voters look at is where a candidate stands on israel. that is making a certain narrow view of the jewish people that i find to be, a, not true. and b, it makes me angry. >> reporter: the obama campaign is taking the republican challenge seriously, firing back with an ad focused on israel. >> our bond with israel will be unbreakable. >> reporter: the co-chairman of a group called florida democrats for romney says it's absolutely not all about israel. >> i think we need to look at this as a business, and we need to put somebody in there that can run this country and bring back the jobs. >> reporter: four years ago, obama won 78% of florida's jewish vote. political scientists say the gop attacks could cost the president as much as 5% of that support. the equivalent of about 25,000

votes. in a close election, perhaps the difference. now, jewish folks in florida make up 3.5% of the state's residents, but 8% of all the voters, which makes them a significant, significant voting block. so we can see why both sides really want those voters, and they are going after them hard. >> yeah, they certainly are. it is getting down and dirty. that's for sure. john zarrella there in plantation, thank you. campaign workers in wisconsin knocking on every door and asking people to vote for their candidate. we'll tell you if their efforts are paying off. ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] you've been years in the making. and there are many years ahead. join the millions of members who've chosen

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let's take you live now to chesapeake, virginia. bill clinton is there. you see him there campaigning for president obama at indian river high school. let's listen for a bit.

>> you want to know one simple difference in the choice you have today? they changed the rules on the gi bill and they said that states could decide whether or not a returning veteran was eligible for in-state tuition. [ audience booing ] there's a great story in the paper last week about a woman veteran whose husband was in the military. she was from north carolina. they went to texas to train. they were sent overseas. they came back. she goes back to north carolina. they judge she's not eligible for in-state tuition and it blows away all the benefits of the gi bill. 250,000 veterans are already there. i'm for barack obama because he wants the people to have education and health care and

jobs. president obama well ahead of mitt romney in wisconsin. cnn's latest poll of polls shows obama with 51% of the vote. romney trailing at 44%. campaign workers on both sides are still knocking on doors to make sure that they get people to come out to vote for their candidate. our ted rowlands is just one of the cnn reporters covering the battleground states today. he has details now from wisconsin. >> this is what the political ground looks like in wisconsin. chelsea and adam are part of team romney. terry is with team obama. each side is armed with addresses of people that support their candidate. their job is to meet them face to face, if nobody's home, leave a pamphlet. if somebody answers, get them to vote. >> hi, i'm chelsea. >> i hope i'm making a

difference. i believe i am. >> reporter: both campaigns believe going door to door and making phone calls -- >> hi, my name is ben and i'm volunteering today for mitt romney. >> reporter: makes a big difference, even though a lot of times the people answering the phone -- >> some people just don't want to talk. >> reporter: or the door. >> no? okay. thank you very much for your time. >> reporter: aren't in the mood to talk. >> it gets old getting all these political calls, getting people at your door all the time. it's one of those things where you can understand their perspective. >> while they may say they're upset that they're getting contacted, at the end of day, it's a higher possibility for them to get out and vote. >> reporter: historically, it's the democrats that have had much stronger ground games. but things are different this time around here in wisconsin. both sides are very well positioned to get out the vote. >> both campaigns i think have realized that if you don't have a real field operation in wisconsin, you do so at your pearl. i would love the say that we have a ground game and they don't. but they do. >> reporter: according to a marquette poll released this week, president obama is up in wisconsin by eight points over

mitt romney among likely voters, but when you look at the people who are both likely to vote and follow politics, that lead shrinks to only two. both sides acknowledge that getting out the vote is crucial and a huge part of doing that is finding the volunteers willing to keep calling and knocking until the election. >> is this your life now until a week from tomorrow? >> oh yes. we're just going to keep going right up until the very end. keep making calls. keep doing doors until the polls close. >> okay, you're out there, i'm going to be out there more. >> reporter: ted rowlands, cnn, racine, wisconsin. ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] some day, your life will flash before your eyes. ♪ make it worth watching. ♪ the new 2013 lexus ls.

an entirely new pursuit.

welcome back. it is always remarkable how during times of tragedy, so many people rise up and show their humanity. i met a guy like that when i was in new jersey this week covering

superstorm sandy. bell mar was hit hard and many people were trapped in their homes, but one man decided he was going to help, and here's his story. if ever this bell mar, new jersey, neighborhood needed an angel, they found one. they call him st. michael here. his real name is michael irwin. for the last two days, he's been boating people to and from their homes, working 12-hour shifts. >> there's a couple people that had to get out. a couple of our neighborhoods brought him, they got out with their dog. chuck we got out, and his dog lucky. there's a couple of other people. make sure they get to dry land. >> lucky for his neighbors, michael is a surfer and a kayaker, so he had a wetsuit. he was also a boy scout, so he says he's always prepared. this area is known as the eighth avenue neighborhood, and the water that we're in right now, this is normally a street, an

avenue, is about four feet deep. so luckily, most of the residents, not all of them, but most of them did evacuate before hurricane sandy even hit. irene mccann evacuated to her son's house, but now that she's returned, she needs michael's help to reach her home. how much damage is in your house? >> we're pretty high up. it's almost to our porch. we have a very tall, high porch. right down in the corner here, the house with the red trim down there. the cellar, forget it. it's gone. hot water heater, furnace, gone. my husband's tools, everything. >> this is a tight knit community where neighbors help neighbors. even the councilman brian mcgovern came by in his kayak the see how everyone's doing. >> the situation is the worst i've ever seen it. i've lived here for 60 years. nothing's ever come close. at 8:00, i called to my wife, i said what's that white stuff in the lake? and it was a wave. and pretty soon within the next couple minutes, our house was

unindate eu inundated by water. >> and michael has his own trouble toos. >> by 7:00, within half an hour, we were flooded. >> he took us by kayak to his house. >> this is your house behind us. >> right there. >> are we in your front lawn? >> in my front lawn. in my driveway. >> so your front lawn, your driveway, you're standing in it. but you're also in about three feet of water. >> about four feet of water. >> michael says he has about six feet of water in his house. no power or heat. which is no surprise, considering the amount of water here. ocean avenue is just a few blocks away, and the ocean dumped water into nearby silver lake, which overflowed into michael's neighborhood. one look at this submerged car, and you can see the water won't be receding any time soon. they were working on bringing in some big pumps to try to get that neighborhood pumped out. for more information about how you can help those affected by superstorm sandy, check out cnn.com/impact.

nevada was very badly hit by the recession, but is the state getting back to work again? we have those details for you. and a georgia woman needed to change her career in order to pursue the sweet life. victor blackwell shares the story of how she got started. >> reporter: andra hall has found a way to handle life's hard knocks. she bakes. >> i always enjoyed baking. it was the one thing i did when everything else was not going so well. >> reporter: in 2006, andra's 1-year-old daughter camille almost died during the surgery. >> we had to do therapy to kind of get her back up to speed. i quit my full-time job. i had to work a midnight graveyard shift at a hotel because she could no longer go today care. so it was tough. >> reporter: during that quiet late shift, she worked on a business plan for a bakery. >> i decided that it was time for me to do some soul searching and do what i felt like i was

born to do. my passion has always been baking, so i decided to open a candy cakes, which is named after my daughter camille. >> reporter: cammy cakes specialized in gourmet cupcakes. >> when we opened, we only had $500 left to our name. on our very first day, we sold out within a few hours. so it was success from the very beginning. >> reporter: and camille is happy to help out, especially with the tasting. >> right now, there are four cammy cakes cupcakes stores. my life is my business, and my business is my life. so everything just merges together. let's rock 'n' roll. the wheels of progress haven't been very active lately. but because of business people like you, things are beginning to get rolling. and regions is here to help. making it easier with the expertise and service

to keep those wheels turning. from business loans to cash management, we want to be your partner moving forward. so switch to regions. and let's get going. together. but they haven't experienced extra strength bayer advanced aspirin. in fact, in a recent survey, 95% of people who tried it agreed that it relieved their headache fast. visit fastreliefchallenge.com today for a special trial offer.

visit fastreliefchallenge.com see life in the best light. [music] transitions® lenses automatically filter just the right amount of light. so you see everything the way it's meant to be seen. experience life well lit, ask for transitions adaptive lenses. nevada is an important state

in the presidential election. its economy is in disrepair, unemployment rate is high and many homes are in foreclosure. so how are people in nevada planning to vote? our miguel marques is covering the batting ground statleground. >> reporter: here we are atop of the strat os fear in vegas, baby. 70% of the votes are here in clark county. as this county goes, so goes nevada. aaahhh! in a city that fell harder and faster than just about anyplace in the country. >> this better be a very close election! >> reporter: the strat os fear like all of vegas, suffered the worst of recession. you had to make a decision, go big or stay home and shut down. >> that was the thesis, yeah. >> reporter: the vegas landmark sunk more than $20 million into

upgrades including a new restaurant and that sky jump thing. most importantly, more than 100 new jobs. do you think las vegas is through the worst of it? >> it feels like it. you know, i mean i drive to work every day and i see stuff going on that i haven't seen for a little while. >> reporter: things like construction and homes being built in a place that once had the nation's highest foreclosure rate. >> there you go, yeah! >> reporter: this chef charts vegas' decline and rise by an untrade index. at the low point of the recession, how many dinners were you doing? >> we were doing as low as 250 a night to 400 now we're doing between 450 and 7 hundred a night. big recovery. >> reporter: this is an important state, you know, clark county especially. >> reporter: comedy icon and clark county voter louie anderson who does four shows a week at the palace station -- >> how do you spell ron paul? >> reporter: says the it is cit

struggling back. >> i think it's hard to be excited about obama if you have not worked. and i love obama. i understand the appeal of romney in this situation. >> reporter: like voters everywhere, he is tired of the campaign. >> obama has been here more than celine dion has. but hopeful that results not politics tops the agenda come january. >> if we're going to have the great country we had once this is not going to be a democrat or republican thing. this is going to be an every single american thing. >> reporter: louie anderson, a very funny guy but also pretty serious in that moment. recovery across nevada is spotty at best. the best number though that we have heard while here is that the price of houses has gone up by 1% in the last month. it's the first time that number has risen since 2007. miguel marques, cnn, las vegas. cnn newsroom starts at the top of the hour. fred is here. >> we're going to take the plunge but not quite like. that. >> you couldn't pay me. >> go, miguel.

that looked like a lot of fun. >> my hero. >> we're going to take the plunge into politics as well, presidential politics. the president will be speaking in ohio momentarily. we're also following mitt romney as well as both candidates crisscross so many states in this last weekend push. and then we're going to be joined by sheila jackson lee and congressman tom price. they're going to be talking strategy of these two candidates later on today. just three days to go until election day, hard to believe. >> and then, of course, we're going to talk about the third party candidates. they are indeed a factor. how much might they impact this race? larry king is going to be joining us. he moderated the one, the only debate involving the third party candidates. we have a lot straight ahead beginning at noon eastern time. >> all right. we'll check in with you then. in the meantime, we'll take a quick break. we'll be right back.

democrats are hoping they're only three days away from taking back control of the u.s. house. as athena jones reports, they'll face an uphill battle. >> reporter: republicans want control of the house in 2010. riding a wave of victories by tea party backed candidates carrying a message of fiscal conservatism and strong opposition to obamacare. so what's going to happen this time around? >> it's all got to go. >> reporter: back in september, democratic leader nancy pelosi had high hopes for her party's prospect. >> we had the very excellent chance to take back the house. >> reporter: but so did republican house speaker john boehner. >> i continue to feel confident about house republicans' chances of holding on to our majority.

>> reporter: republicans have 242 seats to the democrats' 193. so democrats need a net gain of 25 seats to win the majority. analysts say that's not likely to happen. >> there is little doubt the republicans will control the house again after november. they'll probably suffer very minimal losses if they suffer losses at all. >> liberty yes! >> reporter: for republicans, obamacare is still front and center along with the economy. democrats have tried to link republicans to vice-presidential hopeful paul ryan's plans to turn medicare into a voucher program. something democrats say would be disastrous for seniors. republicans believe they neutralized that message by arguing obama care hurts seniors by slashing medicare. redistricting will have a big impact helping republicans. >> for the most part, republicans, because they made such overwhelming gains not only in congress, but in state legislatures last year, they were able to control the

redistricting process in a lot of key states. for example, north carolina where democrats will probably lose a couple seats this cycle. >> reporter: gop gains look likely in districts from north carolina to arkansas among others. in fact, they even put traditional blue states like rhode island and massachusetts into play. democrats are trying hard to unseat gop incumbents in blue states like california, new york, and illinois. and could see gains in maryland and florida. so why do these house races matter? members of congress will have to make big decisions in the coming months. chief among them, reaching a deal to avoid the so-called fiscal cliff, a series of tax increases and spending cuts set to take effect next year. >> the decisions confronting congress over the next four months are bigger than i think most of us have seen in our lifetime. at least on the fiscal matters. >> reporter: it's not just the fiscal cliff. >> most people think we need some fundamental tax reform, some cuts in spending and entitlement reform.